was messing with the rear suspension today, since i lowered the car with tanabe df210s i noticed the ride was a bit soft but still rough so i figured, i lowered the car 2 inches so i lost about 2 inches of stroke with the stock shocks, so i figure if i find a shock thats 2 inches shorter than stock it should get full stroke on the shock and give a smoother ride....i found that 300zx rear shocks (84-89) were about 2 inches shorter and had the same style shocks as our xB shocks,,,,even the top bolt was the same thread.....had to modify the bottom bushing section to fit but so far so good....ill be testing for a few weeks and see how the car feels...im not going for any performance mod just a smoother ride.

mikey
04 xB
71 240zg
73 skyline gt-x

sweet....good thinking on your part...def keep us posted on the ride....does changing out your shocks like that mess with the warrenty???? or safety??
-Ryan

I'd be more curious as to what kind of performance shock there might be available for those old 300zx's that we might be able to swap ours out for cheaply.

for the 300z (84-89) they have many options, kyb gas-a-just for about 30 bucks a pop, or i believe tokico illuminas for about 200 a pair or 80 bux a pair for non-adjust tokicos, http://www.autocarparts.com/part/255/144/ i might opt with the illuminas and see how they ride....just to let you know our bottom bolt hole diameter in the bottom of the shock has 3/4" diameter so you may have to drill the holes larger on a 300z shock. its not really a hard task, pretty much any machine shop can do it cheap...just drill bigger and your done, pop in the shock and enjoy the diferrence...so far my rear has been a bit softer with the stock 300z shocks i put it, tends to lean more on corners than before but like i said i didnt do it for performance just to get softer, but i plan to try the illuminas and see if i can get a mild soft ride and great cornering abliity. ill let you guys know if i find any other applications that would fit...mikey

04 Xb
73 skyline gt-x
71 240z gnose

The cost here might be more not sure but its another site that has shocks for the 300zx. http://www.performancecenter.com/products/?sf1=NISSAN&sf2=1984&sf3=300ZX&category=Suspension+%26+Chassis&productcategory=Shocks+-+Vehicle+Specific&searchtype=456789d&sortorder=ADAAAAAAA

Just did a search and hit your post up. Very good info here. Have you tried anything new? How about the front struts? Any word on the illuminas??